CookieCows

Well grass fed and organic are seperate deals and I know what our costs are in raising grass fed cows on a small scale. (Except for that one bad winter when we used feed for a couple months) Anyway we can't say our cattle are organic as the guidelines are really strict but they are grass fed. Grass fed cows are slower to get to a good marketable weight than feed lot cows and that jacks up the cost.

I agree that buying from a small, local butcher is best. Not only is it almost as good but possibly cheaper than raising it yourself and paying for the processing. The other thing that is good about it, is that it's important for the animal to be calm at the end as it makes for more tender beef and is humane for the animal. The first cow we ever had processed my husband was with the animal from start to finish to know how they did it all so we could have peace of mind.

A few years ago they were recalling hamburger in surrounding states on a pretty large scale and it was so nice to know that we knew where our beef came from and didn't have any need for concern.

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